CL finds

[Phonesrfun]

Briney:

If you want a phone to ring, you never want to buy one these days with a frequency ringer, but you probably had no way of knowing that when you got it to begin with.   

I am sure I have a straight line ringer I could bring to the Seattle show that you could have.  Just remind me via e-mail or call me on the phone to remind me beforehand.

-Bill

[Greg G.]

Briney:

If you want a phone to ring, you never want to buy one these days with a frequency ringer, but you probably had no way of knowing that when you got it to begin with.   

I am sure I have a straight line ringer I could bring to the Seattle show that you could have.  Just remind me via e-mail or call me on the phone to remind me beforehand.

-Bill

Being electronics-challenged, why is it the frequency ringers don't work on todays systems?  Did the systems "back in the day" have more juice to move the heavier striker?

And you're correct, I have or had no way of knowing it didn't ring, but that's of less importance to me than the fact that it gets a dial tone and sends/receives calls. 

[JorgeAmely]

Frequency ringers don't work on today's phone lines because they require a ringing voltage with a frequency other than 20 Hz.

In the old days, the phone company would string many phones (not too many, but at least more than two) together in the same line. The central office would make a particular phone ring by sending down the line the correct frequency for a particular phone. These frequencies started at around 16 Hz all the way to 67 Hz, with a spacing of a few Hz.

In order to make a frequency ringer of say 42 Hz, the ringer was mechanically tuned to that frequency. The mass of the clapper, the length of the stem and the stiffness of the spring all contributed to make a design that resonated at that frequency. All you needed was to send a 80-100 volts AC waveform at 42 Hz, and voila', the ringer would ring.

By the way, there are 20 Hz frequency ringers that will work perfectly on modern lines.

[Dan]

Thanks for clarifying the freq ringer mystery, Jorge. I will always look on the back for hertz #'s on those non- WE phones.

[HobieSport]

Thank you Jorge,

I have ten AE 40s sitting on my desk right now, so I'm just beginning to try to learn about the different frequency ringers.

I have to admit that I got all these AE 40s when I was more naive, and I just liked the AE 40s in general, but now I'm wondering if I either have to replace most of the ringers or if I can modify the frequency via some electronics (capacitor? resistor?) to work on regular modern lines. I am very electronically challenged, but I can solder

I'm trying to learn about it in this thread:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1486.0;topicseen

[bwanna]

this thread started before i joined the forum. i just found it today. informative & funny.

dan, did you ever get that phone? i could go by in my ATT truck & tell the guy i am the PHONE POLICE & demand he turn it over.

dennis, shocking as it may have been to receive a call to the lips, the way to get a real jolt is to grab onto a T1 circuit in the rain

[Dennis Markham]

Donna, I'm not sure what a T1 circuit is but I don't think I want to grab one in the rain!

[bwanna]

i didn't either

[Dan]

...funny you should bring up the question if i got the phone or not , Donna. The GRANDFATHER of the person who cashed my money order wrote me a letter that the phone is still in the basement and he would send it to  me if I had proof that I sent his grandson  a money order. Well, I threw away the stub (it had been since MAY) but checked back then  and sure enough, the guy did cash it. The grandpa said he (the phone seller) had got transfered (military)and apparently he was cleaning up the basement and found my letter next to the phone. It was a rare 10 button pink 1500 pushbutton. I paid 43.95 for it including shipping.

I wrote the grandfather back, stating I did send the money order and even copied the email from his grandson stating he got the moneyorder and would mail out the phone the next day.I could not send the stub since it was thrown away.

it has been two weeks since I mailed back the grandfather and I sent him out another letter today to verify that he got my first letter and if he reached his grandson to verify that I paid for the phone.

Either the grandson will lie to his grandpa and I will be screwed again or else I will hopefully get the phone.

I am going to the convience store tomorrow to see if I can get some kind of proof for gramps that the money order was purchased.

I really don't think I will ever see that phone, however.

[Dennis Markham]

Wow Dan, that sounds like a mess.  Maybe Grandpa will do the right thing and send out that phone.  I was wondering the same thing tonight after reading Donna's post (wondering if you got that phone).  Hopefully your persistence will pay off.

[Dan]

Thanks Dennis for your kind words. I hope I can get it too. Hopefully grandpa will see that I am telling the truth and copies of his grandson's emails are enough proof. I am not a touch tone collector really but I know the 1500's, especially in pink, are pretty valuable.

[HobieSport]

It constantly amazes me how many good old telephones really have been so long in a family before someone decides to try to sell one. I know that anyone can make up a story on Ebay or Craiglist, but I tend to trust people.

When someone says that "this was my grandfather's (or great aunts') phone I tend to listen.

[JorgeAmely]

Hi HobieSport:

There are two aspects to consider in making ringer ring: the electronics and the mechanical tuning of the ringer.

On the electronics side, they need to be excited with the proper voltage amplitude and frequency.
Once this is met, the mechanical aspects of the ringer come into play. The higher the frequency of the ringer the smaller the clapper will be, the shorter the stem will be and the stiffer the spring will be. Why? Because at higher frequencies, the ringer is swinging the clapper left and right, so it needs to be light enough to do that in the time specified by the ringer frequency. In a 60 Hz ringer, the clapper cycle time is around 16 milliseconds. In a 20 Hz ringer (AKA the straight line ringer), the cycle time is 50 milliseconds.

The same principle of a piano tuning fork applies here. When you strike it, it will oscillate at the frequency dictated by the size of the fork, the length of the arms, the thickness of the arms, etc.

When the wrong frequency is applied to a ringer (like applying today's 20 Hz waveform to a ringer designed for 42 Hz), it barely moves, because the coil and the mechanics of the ringer can't resonate.

[Greg G.]

I wrote the grandfather back, stating I did send the money order and even copied the email from his grandson stating he got the moneyorder and would mail out the phone the next day.I could not send the stub since it was thrown away.

I am going to the convience store tomorrow to see if I can get some kind of proof for gramps that the money order was purchased.

I was just thinking you should be able to get a copy of the cashed m.o. to show gramps.  What a hassle!

[Dan]

How can I get a copy of the cashed money order? I know the store who sold it and the company who issued it.